The Raven

Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamer door!
"#$is some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamer door--
Only this and nothing more!"
Ah, distinctly I rememer it was in the leak %ecemer,
And each separate dying emer wrought its ghost upon the floor!
Eagerly I wished the morrow&--vainly I had sought to orrow
'rom my ooks surcease of sorrow--sorrow for the lost (enore--
'or the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name (enore--
)ameless here for evermore!
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
$hrilled me--filled me with fantastic terrors never felt efore&
*o that now, to still the eating of my heart, I stood repeating
"#$is some visiter entreating entrance at my chamer door--
*ome late visiter entreating entrance at my chamer door&
$his it is and nothing more!"
Presently my soul grew stronger& hesitating then no longer,
"*ir," said I, "or +adam, truly your forgiveness I implore&
,ut the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamer door,
$hat I scarce was sure I heard you"--here I opened wide the door--
%arkness there and nothing more!
%eep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
%outing, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream efore&
,ut the silence was unroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "(enore-"
$his I whispered, and an echo murmured ack the word, "(enore."--
+erely this and nothing more!
,ack into the chamer turning, all my sour within me urning,
*oon again I heard a tapping something louder than efore!
"*urely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice&
(et me see, then, what thereat is and this mystery e/plore--
(et my heart e still a moment and this mystery e/plore&--
#$is the wind and nothing more!
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately 0aven of the saintly days of yore!
)ot the least oeisance made he& not a minute stopped or stayed he,
,ut, with mien of lord or lady, perched aove my chamer door--
Perched upon a ust of Pallas 1ust aove my chamer door--
Perched, and sat, and nothing more!
$hen the eony ird eguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
,y the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
"$hough thy crest e shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
2hastly grim and ancient 0aven wandering from the )ightly shore--
$ell me what thy lordly name is on the )ight#s Plutonian shore."
3uoth the 0aven, ")evermore!"
+uch I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
$hough its answer little meaning--little relevancy ore&
'or we cannot help agreeing that no living human eing
Ever yet was lessed with seeing ird aove his chamer door--
,ird or east upon the sculptured ust aove his chamer door,
With such name as ")evermore!"
,ut the 0aven, sitting lonely on that placid ust, spoke only
$hat one word, as if its soul in that one word he did outpour
)othing farther then he uttered& not a feather then he fluttered--
$ill I scarcely more than muttered4 "Other friends have flown efore--
On the morrow he will leave me, as my 5opes have flown efore!"
$hen the ird said ")evermore!"
*tartled at the stillness roken y reply so aptly spoken,
"%outless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,
6aught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful %isaster
'ollowed fast and followed faster till his songs one urden ore--
$ill the dirges of his 5ope that melancholy urden ore
Of #)ever--nevermore!#"
,ut the 0aven still eguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
*traight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of ird and ust and door&
$hen, upon the velvet sinking, I etook myself to linking
'ancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous ird of yore--
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous ird of yore
+eant in croaking ")evermore!"
$his I sat engaged in guessing, ut no syllale e/pressing
$o the fowl whose fiery eyes now urned into my osom#s core&
$his and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion#s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o#er,
,ut whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o#er
*he shall press, ah, nevermore.
$hen, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
*wung y *eraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor!
"Wretch," I cried, "thy 2od hath lent thee--y these angels he hath sent thee
0espite--respite and nepenthe from thy memories of (enore.
3uaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost (enore."
3uoth the 0aven, ")evermore!"
"Prophet." said I, "thing of evil.--prophet still, if ird or devil.--
Whether $empter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
%esolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted--
On this home y 5orror haunted--tell me truly, I implore--
Is there--is there alm in 2ilead---tell me--tell me, I implore."
3uoth the 0aven, ")evermore!"
"Prophet." said I, "thing of evil.--prophet still, if ird or devil.
,y that 5eaven that ends aove us--y that 2od we oth adore--
$ell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name (enore--
6lasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name (enore!"
3uoth the 0aven, ")evermore!"
",e that our sign of parting, ird or fiend." I shrieked, upstarting--
"2et thee ack into the tempest and the )ight#s Plutonian shore.
(eave no lack plume as a token of that lie thy soul has spoken.
(eave my loneliness unroken.--quit the ust aove my door.
$ake thy eak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door."
3uoth the 0aven, ")evermore!"
And the 0aven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid ust of Pallas 1ust aove my chamer door&
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon#s that is dreaming
And the lamp-light o#er him streaming throws his shadows on the floor&
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
*hall e lifted--nevermore.